Here are some of the characters in Old Lob's
farm that will bring pleasant memories of our Primary One days:

Old Lob the farmer - we all know who he is

Percy the bad chick - immortalised by our
very own Tan Eng Hin

Mr Dan the sheepdog

Master Willy the pig

Mr Grumps the goat

Mother Hen and her chicks

Miss Tibbs the cat

Mrs Cuddy the cow

Dobbin the horse

Questions:

Can anyone remember whether Old Lob had a
wife? If so, what was her name?

Does anyone have a copy of the book? I
checked with Amazon and it is out of print.

Did a search on the Internet and someone
recalled a train crash in the book. Was there one? I don't
seem to remember this incident.

There was also an incident when Percy the
bad chick fell into a dust cart. Can anyone remember this?

If you have other memories of Old Lob's
farm characters, please share with us.

Wee Ban Bee
wrote (12 October 2007, 1745 hours):

48 years is a long time ago.
Glad you brought it out. The names are quite clear but not the
incidents.

Mike Chan
wrote (12 October 2007, 2033 hours):

Please be informed that Percy is now known as
Percy the young Chick due to his slick thick black hair all
sticking together like as if Tancho had been used (not so,
according to him) and without a white/grey hair anywhere. He
also looks 10 years younger!

Eio Eng Hua
wrote (14 October 2007, 1648 hours):

I wonder how many of you remember this
interesting coincidence.

We started our primary school days with the
book "Old Lob" and we ended our secondary school days with
"Animal Farm", the great book by George Orwell. In it, there was
this famous slogan, "four legs good, two legs bad" which I never
forget because it is a reflection of life. We live in a world
where there is little or no economic justice. This is true of
the poorer and war torn countries.

Mike Chan
wrote (14 October 2007, 1736 hours):

Yes indeed Eng Hua, Orwell was a great
visionary who saw the future.....Animal Farm is everywhere in
the world except for the very developed democratic nations like
USA, UK, Western Europe, Aus, NZ and India.

Here in S. E. Asia, Burma is 100% AF,
Malaysia maybe 80% and Singapore 70% and rising. Once the despot
or a few cronies forsake democracy and become greedy for power
and wealth, the spectre of AF will slowly but surely grow!
......I kid u not. See you at Taos eatery on 25 October!

Robert Gay Kheng
Leng wrote (15 October 2007, 0908):

I think the AF slogan ended up being "Four legs good, two legs
be—tter!".
As for Old Lob, there was an episode called "The Move" in which,
I think Miss Tibs was left behind.

Allan Ng Yoon Hooi wrote (15
October 2007, 0923):

You guys have got it all wrong again. It's "Four legs good, no
legs bad."
If you recall, Pork Eye (animal version of Pop Eye) said "Four
legs bitches, three legs butches."

Choo Teck Long wrote (15
October 2007, 0924):

It started with "Four legs good, two legs bad!", and eventually
became "Four legs good, two legs better!", after Squealer the
pig started walking on his two hind legs.

Mike Chan wrote (15 October 2007, 1004 hours)

I remember Mr Earnest
Lau, about the best English teacher in ACS of our time there,
told us in his Form 4 (1958) class that Orwell was then
directing his novel AF at communism, specifically the communist
nations of Russia and China. Little did Orwell realised his
vision of AF is now being played out even in capitalist
countries with democracy pretensions all over the world.

Mike Chan wrote (15 October
2007, 1020 hours)

My God, Prof Gay!, You
can even remember that there was an episode "The Move" in the
book Old Lob in which Miss Tibs (who is she?) was left behind?
That was in Primary 2 or 3 in 1948-49 just after WW2! I can't
even remember we read a book called "Old Lob". If not for our
beloved Percy the bad chick (now renamed Percy the young slick
chick by deed-poll), I would not remember anything about this
Primary 2 book! Cu guys at Taos eatery for a 6-course
lunch on 25 October for only $20.